Local MPs reject Theresa May’s Brexit deal

Local MPs Tony Lloyd and Liz McInnes voted to reject Theresa May’s Brexit deal, which was rejected by a record majority of 230 votes.

The prime minister suffered the biggest ever Commons loss when her Brexit plan was voted down by 432 votes to 202 on Tuesday (15 January).

The plan was aimed at bringing about an orderly departure from the EU on 29 March, and setting up a 21-month transition period to negotiate a free trade deal.

However, the plan was rejected by 248 Labour MPs, 118 Conservative rebels and 66 MPs from other parties and independents.

Mrs May now faces a vote of no confidence, expected to be held around 7pm today (Wednesday 16 January). According to the BBC, the prime minister has told MPs she will return to the Commons with an alternative plan next week, should she survive the confidence vote.

Prior to the referendum on 23 June 2016, both Tony Lloyd, Rochdale’s MP, and Liz McInnes, MP for Heywood and Middleton, voted to remain in the EU.

Speaking about voting against the deal put forward by Mrs May, Mr Lloyd commented: "Brexit is one of the biggest issues that Rochdale and the whole country will face in a generation.

"At the General Election, Labour committed to honour the result of the referendum, but that doesn’t mean accepting a deal which is bad for jobs and bad for our economy – we’ve got to get it right.

"The way to have done that would have been for the Prime Minister to reach out across Parliament to bring the whole country’s interests together. Sadly, she wasn’t prepared to do that and at every turn she tried to prevent any constructive dialogue – even with her own Government Ministers.

"The deal she brought back simply doesn’t do enough. We are now faced with a massively divided Government and a Prime Minister who has lost the confidence of not just opposition parties but her own MPs too.

"In the end this can’t be about party politics and the fact that even the Prime Minister’s own MPs couldn’t vote for the deal, shows just how bad it was. It has to be about the national interest, and my judgement, and the judgement of the overwhelming majority of parliament, is that Mrs May’s deal was not in the national interest.

"That is why I voted against the deal and why and I will be supporting the motion of no confidence in the Government later today."

 

 

Ms McInnes said: “I voted against the Prime Minister’s deal not because I want to stop Brexit, but because I am simply working to get a Brexit deal which will as much as possible benefit people in Heywood and Middleton and our country; one that will support jobs and the economy, and will ensure the brightest possible future for us outside of the EU.

“The Prime Minister’s deal is a failure after two years of negotiations which have been handled terribly. She delayed the vote in December when it became clear she would lose, but in the weeks since then absolutely nothing has changed.

“It was a bad deal in November, and it’s a bad deal now, and nobody is surprised that it was defeated in Parliament last night. The Government now faces chaos because of their own failings and their inability to negotiate a deal in the national interest.

“We need a deal which works, not Mrs May’s half-baked offering and most definitely not the chaos which No Deal would bring.

“Regarding immigration, we are clear that freedom of movement rules will end when we leave the EU. After that, our priority is to get the best deal for people’s jobs and the economy and to negotiate a new immigration system based on fair rules and reasonable management of migration.

“I do not believe that the current Government are up to the job of negotiating a deal which works for Britain and can unite our country, and I will be supporting the motion of no confidence in them later today.”

North West Member of European Parliament (MEP), Paul Nuttall also showed his support in rejecting the deal put before MPs on Tuesday (15 January).

The Independent MEP described parliament’s decision to vote down Theresa May’s deal as 'the right thing to do'.

Mr Nuttall said: “It is absolutely dreadful that the country has been left in the mess it has thanks to the government failing to get on with the task at hand following the Leave vote.

“Her so-called deal did not enact the will of the majority and if it had gone through, we would have been in political purgatory.

“In my view, the only option to uphold the will of the people is to leave on WTO terms.”